Made a torch hand rest for the weld table. Started on a weld positioner kit, and figured the adjustable rest would be nice for the positioner, and using on the table in general. The positioner was meant to be driven by a drill motor, but not wild about that. So working on adapting a motor drive to it. Version one was a failure, not enough low speed torque. Searching for an alternative now.
November 14
Ran a practice butt joint on some 304SS exhaust tube( 2.25" OD/.065" wall ), to get in some practice time with my new HTP Invertig 251. Could be worse, but a LOT of room for improvement. Maintaining a consistent bead profile with .040" filler is a sonofabitch! Got decent melt through at 50A, but will bump it up a couple of amps next time. The 5 cfh back purge was sufficient to prevent sugaring. Used a sharp 1/16" C-K LaYZr tungsten, and Fupa 12 cup, and 35 cfh.
November 11
00:35
Drilling through these Stainless Steel fittings was a breeze with this drill press. 5/16 drill thru 1/4 stainless steel compression fittings.
October 24
Fun little project, piping for Instrumentation air measurements. 8 pipe , 150 lb mating flange welded with 316/316L -16 1/8 rod smaw . 110 amps DC + 3 pass. Never really ran stainless stick, but I always heard the the slag has a tendency to pop off at you, the funny thing is the slag keeps popping even after you clean the weld, kind like jumping beans. Was able to find a small box rod on the store shelf for about 115 bucks.
June 29
Had to machine a big roller for a taper lock bushing. Originally this was going to get a different form of mechanical shaft lock, but was changed to a taper lock after I had already machined the bore out to nearly the bolt circle of where the locking threads needed to be.
On a cnc machine I could have thread milled the half threads, but my shop is all manual.
My solution was to finish machine the bore of the roller out to the minor diameter of the taper for the bushing, and then I machined a plug that had a couple tenths of clearance so it was a nice snug but still hand fit in the bore. I was able to spot face, drill, and tap very easily and end up with nicely half threaded holes with no drama. Then I setup back in the lathe and machined the taper to size for the bushing.
February 19
Welding up my SWAG Offroad Tube Roller using my new weld positioner...it took a minute to get it....like playing the drums!
October 17
G'day all
Does anyone have any experience/ tips for tig welding Magnesium? I have a small repair that I need to do to a chainsaw head ( crack repair, plus mounting a new mount bracket).
I have some experience tig welding carbon steel, stainless steel and Aluminium, but not anything more exotic then those. The material is about 3.2mm (1/8) thick. I have the capacity to weld upto 200amps with my machine.
Thanks
Connah
February 29
Ripped this 1/8 304 plate with a circular saw I have, not sure if it's the same with any circular saw but it makes short work for sure, no sparks no, no smoke.
Thought it was smart to lay out with my chalk line then spray glue, to keep the line. It work till I had to clean it, oh well it's going straight into the fire box tomorrow anyway 🤪.
October 02
Started to pimp out my new Millermatic 255 to make it as self contained as possible. Made with scrap/offcuts, so it's a mix of steel and aluminum. The post/shelf is bolted to the mobile base, so the 255 can still be popped off the cart, and shelf is high enough that the access door clears it.
